Lots of IOErrors

GoPiGo
#1

Just go my first GoPiGo, and the motors are pretty much unusable, as 2 out of 3 commands will result in an IOError.

I took it apart and reassembled, hoping I made a mistake the first time, and still the same. When running basic_robot.py to test the movements, I have to try a few times before it starts moving, and then the same to stop. Rarely, it would take 4-5 commands in a row but normally it’s mostly IOErrors.

I’m new to this… any tests I should run to see what’s wrong? Could it be defective motors, or defective board? The Pi B+ is fine, I can run any programs there, as long as I don’t have to move the GoPiGo.

Please let me know what to do, I was getting very excited about it, today I also ordered ultrasonic sensors and the servo, but it does me no good if I can’t move it around.

#2

Hey,
Wanted to ask a few questions about your setup:

  1. Are you running the Dexter Industries flavor of Raspbian or something of your own?
  2. How are you powering the whole setup? AA batteries or USB power or something else
  3. What do you see when you give sudo i2cdetect -y 1 command on the terminal a couple of time. Is there a 08 there consistently?
  4. What result do you get when you give “f” command in the basic_test_all.py (https://github.com/DexterInd/GoPiGo/blob/master/Software/Python/basic_test_all.py) a couple of times?
  5. What result do you get when you give “v” command in the basic_test_all.py a couple of times? Is the reported voltage above 9V.
  6. What happens when you give “w”,“a”,“s” and “d” commands to the GoPiGo, does it move consistently or does it have some problems too.

The is a long list of things toi do but it’ll help us debug the problem better. Do let us know what results you get.

-Karan

#3

Hi Karan, thank you for responding. I went through your checklist. I realized I still had firmware 1.1, and did the upgrade to 1.3 (with motors disconnected). The results were about identical, just that after the upgrade I don’t get the IOError messages anymore! (but still, the motors are not responding properly).

  1. I’m running the Raspbian image from your website.
  2. I tried both on batteries and with the pwoer adapter and the results are similar.
  3. I usually see nothing on i2cdetect. Every now and then I’d see 08, other times just a 0c or 0d.
  4. With “f”, I see 1.3 about one in 4 tries, otherwise -1. When I had 1.1, I’d see the IOError followed by -1
  5. “v” when it works shows something in the 10.90-11.10 range (but mostly -1)
  6. The robot commands work sporadically. After 3-4 tries, motors would start moving, then I have to try several times “x” to stop them.

With all these tests, while it usually works 1 in 4 attempts, there are times when it would work for a minute perfectly, others when I wouldn’t get a response for a minute or more.

Hope this helps you figure out what’s wrong, the motors, your board, or the Pi (B+). I just ordered a Pi 2 and I guess the only thing left is to see if it will work with that, and the Pi is broken now.

Thanks,
Chris